Miami Herald main culprit that criminalized the poor in Haiti as kidnappers

“Miami Herald, in its article on the Brandt kidnapping ring (See article below), fails to confess that their paper was the main culprit that criminalized the poor in Haiti as kidnappers. It was the main racist culprit to consistently give all that’s wrong in Haiti an African face, an Aristide face. And all that’s heroic, a do-gooder Caucasian, Eurocentric Uncle Tom or light-skinned oligarchs’ face. This caused 20THOUSANDS in the populous areas to die behind UN and US marine guns from 2004 to 2006. Their lives were not valueless. The injustice is not past until there is justice for Haiti and those who died because the US special forces began the kidnapping spree in Haiti with the kidnapping of Haiti’s first democratically elected president, which act would embolden the Oligarch kidnappings, prevent real Haiti investment by scaring off the Diaspora from returning to Haiti to open up new businesses, contain Haiti in more misery and poverty and lead to ensconcing the UN in Haiti for 9years now, bringing cholera that killed 8,000 Haitians, infected 600,000. The imperial denial of the Bicentennial and return of the Rochambeau troops is NOT some trivial thing of the past that Haitians, who are not subdued and brainwashed, can actually swallow whole and without regurgitating.

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots” -Marcus Garvey

“…Father Jean Juste (“Jyeri”) died because of his wrongful imprisonment, mostly based on RNDDH lies and here it is Jacqueline Charles and the Miami Herald is quoting RNDDH as if they were some legitimate human rights organization.

Former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune spent years wrongfully jailed. Thousands of young Haiti men were warehoused in indefinite detentions, without trial, in Haiti since 2004 because of the lies of the RNDDH, the myth of Haiti’s violent street gangs threatening the nation, also substantiated by Mark Scheider’s International Crisis Group studies or by Transparency International corruption index, along with the Haiti Democracy Project. All along, the violence came from the former coup detat military, the coup d’etat oligarchs who were bringing in arms to Haiti to secure their repugnant rule; to legitimize and bring back the Duvalierist dictators while legally disenfranchising the masses with selections the Internationals call elections…. But today we read, from the Miami Herald…”

Unless you’re brainwashed and subdued, no Haiti justice advocate reads Jacqueline Charles at the Miami Herald except to get a handle on the State Department narrative on a particular Haiti issue. Otherwise, why bother with Miami Herald’s consistent partisan, pro-UN occupation imperialistic missives on Haiti? They are only adapt at issuing US State Department bulletins on Haiti in the format of an article.

Until this article, and since the US kidnapping of President Aristide in 2004, Miami Herald has not failed to paint kidnappings in Haiti “as a deadly trend spawn out of Haiti’s ghettos, a quick way for thugs to get money off the misery and heartbreak of desperate family members.” The “Haiti thugs” are never the US-supported thieves; corrupt oligarchs living in the hilltop suburbs, the NGO invaders, UN molesters or coup detat murderers that the Miami Herald have legitimized for decades.

But Ms. Charles does make a pretty whopping confession that is worthy of note. She writes, “…the FBI has become involved in the kidnapping ring.” It’s a typo most likely, but a very entertaining one. In fact, I was so amused today by her article on the Brandt kidnapping for all that it failed to say.

Last night, I didn’t catch the Little Girl hanging by one arm over the side of a crowded, overloaded Haitian boat.

It’s another November 18th under occupation and I guess you already know what I hide. I write this piece, each year, mostly to find the strength to carry this name until the end. But two decades of documenting, witnessing, giving homage to the fallen and struggling for justice and to prevent the continuous deaths, sufferings and incomprehensible hardships has taken its toll.” (In remembrance of Vertieres, disengagement is not an option, Grenadye alaso, Nov 18, 2012)

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Leo Shetush, the great chief of the Algonquin first peoples honor the Haiti warriors and our common connections on the anniversary of the defeat of the French army by Haiti.

On November 18, 2012 on Vertieres Day, Vodouist from Ayiti came together in Ottawa Canada with the indigenous first peoples to remember the exterminations, opening doors for the return and undoing, welcoming all Haitians to feel fully home on the homeland of the great Algonquin.

The Miami Herald article doesn’t mention the 2005 Stanley Handal arrest for kidnapping, nor the current allegations of his continued involvement as well as the confession by Brandt that reportedly names the son of Macoute Martelly as a member of this high-level mafia network.

Of course, not. Ms. Charles does say, however, that the Miami Herald has, in hand, the 30-page police report that contains Clifford Brandt’s confession. Brandt confessed, she selectively reports, to being the head of the elite kidnapping gang, which also dealt in money laundering and illegal arms trafficking.

The first two paragraphs of Ms. Charles article sets the stage for the spins, says so much to those of us who have slammed Miami Herald for nearly 9-years now for their Neocon, pro-coup detat spins and racist bourgeoisie viewpoints on Haiti.

If there is one polarizing newspaper in America for Haitians that constantly ignores the dispossessed workers, the international exploitation, oppression of Haiti and colonial reasons for the severe inequality in Haiti, it’s Miami Herald and the pro-Neocon Jacqueline Charles articles. Not many other US reporters have demonized Haiti’s democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who advocated for more progressive policies towards the poor,
more vitriolically, consistently or with more catastrophic effect than Miami Herald and Ms. Charles’ articles. Of course, that necessarily means, she continues to report on the violent bandits in Site Soley, Gran Ravine and the populous areas making it necessary for a UN/US protectorate, loss of Haiti sovereignty.

But today we read, in her first paragraph from the Miami Herald on the Brandt mafia that: “When Haiti National Police moved in to arrest the handsome, well-dressed man on kidnapping charges, it blew the lid off a deep, dark secret: No one is immune to the country’s newest crime wave.”

That’s the first big Miami Herald lie.

Kidnapping in Haiti is not “the country’s newest crime wave.” Haiti is an international crime scene. It began, most recently, in 2004 when the US Special Forces, with the complicity of Canadian and French troops, helped to kidnap the democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide out of Haiti. That’s when the “country’s newest crime wave” began.

This kidnapping by the US, emboldened its wealthy blan peyi elites to meter out the same punishment whenever they wanted to extort something quick in Haiti. Racism, white supremacy, and the tools of humanitarian imperialism protected them. (False Caracol jobs, False aid, charity, housing for Haiti is the pretext for the fake humanitarians to steal Haiti sovereignty,land, and resources; Haiti Riches is the reason for the US occupation behind UN mercenary troops and the fake humanitarians.)

Of course, that necessarily means, the Miami Herald and most of the mainstream corporate media painted the Haiti masses as the most violent peoples in the Western Hemisphere, although that is blatantly untrue.

Why is there a UN, Chapter 7 peace enforcement mission in Haiti for 8 years? A country not at war, without a peace agreement to enforce and with less violence than most countries in the Western Hemisphere? (See the UN’s own Global Study on Homicide at page 93 ).

The first paragraph starts with a premise, the Brandt arrest blew the lid off previous misconceptions but doesn’t quite follow through and make that statement. It says:

“When Haiti National Police moved in to arrest the handsome, well-dressed man on kidnapping charges, it blew the lid off a deep, dark secret: No one is immune to the country’s newest crime wave.”

Of course no one is immune to criminal behavior. That’s not a deep dark secret! Every human being – white, Black, poor, rich, educated, illiterate – may choose to participate in criminal actions. No? In certain circumstances, those who are poor may have more survival reasons for entering into illegal activities, but every person chooses and are ultimately responsible for their actions.

But the article opines the Brandt arrest shows: No one is immune to the country’s newest crime wave.”

What does that mean, except this arrest is the exception to the rule? No? Or that the deep dark secret is that Haiti is so naturally criminal even the beautiful, well-dressed people get contaminated, uhm tainted against their will into criminal actions? Right at the first paragraph, the Miami Herald sets the tone, talks in coded words to let us know that this behavior of Brandt contradicts the norm – even the rich she implies are not “immune” to being murderers, money-launderers and kidnappers, which obviously, in Haiti, is the province of the huddled black masses? That’s the deep dark prejudice alright. Although only a racist would think, much less write that the well-dressed, light-skinned and Eurocentric handsome are not natural murderers, rapists and kidnappers.

If the actual truth were to be told, perhaps the Miami Herald would have written that the deep dark secret is that the poor have been unfairly criminalized when in fact it’s the rich in Haiti, who are the intellectual authors of the high profiled kidnapping cases. It’s the rich who own car dealerships with GPS functions to track their marks, who own banks with lots of customers making deposits, who have access to high society, to foreign embassies, to travel visas, police uniforms, cars and monies to purchase the brawn of the police or the street gang and can carry out the extortions, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering, rapes and murders with impunity. And, contrary to the racist norm, Brandt criminal leaders are suddenly, unexpectedly not immune or exempt from arrest in Haiti. Why is this kidnapping ring suddenly exposed, now that’s the real, deep dark secret. The elephant in the room no Miami Herald State Department Bulletin will tackle.

Instead, this article exposing the murders and kidnappings – that the little guy in Site Soley has consistently had to unjustly pay for, be imprisoned for, die for – were the crimes of their precious oligach-collaborators seems to have been too heartbreaking for the Miami Herald to write. Lol. In the last paragraph, the article quotes a businessman who says:

“You always assumed that kidnapping didn’t have a face,” said a businessman who negotiated his kidnapped son’s release after eight day in the summer of 2008. “Now it has a face.”

So, although at the end, the article acknowledges and gives up a “face” of Haiti’s wave of violence – a rich US citizen, born of a prominent Haiti family, a member of the wealthy business classes. You sort of have to piece together the first paragraph with the last as the first paragraph manages to express the normal editorial racism of the Miami Herald, who expressly editorialize, in sum, that they’ve always assumed kidnapping in Haiti had a poor and ill-dressed ghetto youth face – the rich were not tainted, were immune to criminality.

The only worthy reason to read the colonial stuff Miami Herald writes about Haiti is if you’re looking for the amusing Freudian slip-ups – the length Jacqueline Charles and her colleagues at the Herald will go to cuddle whatever US-selected puppet that’s imposed on the Haitian people since Gerald Latortue and his Boca Raton regime.

A few paragraphs later in the article, Miami Herald alludes to it when Ms. Jacqueline Charles quotes that other State Department mouthpiece, Mark Schneider from the International Crisis Group, or Transparency International, who are practically trotted out, every October or so of each year, to tell all and sundry how VIOLENT and CORRUPT Haiti is, just in time for the annual renewal of the UN mandate.

Commenting on the Brandt arrest, that repugnant paid-grunt, with innocent Haiti blood on his hands, says:

“One would hope this represents a major step forward for the HNP in terms of its capacity and its ability to enforce the law,” said Mark Schneider, senior vice president for the International Crisis Group, which has published numerous reports on Haiti’s security challenges since kidnapping became more prevalent starting in 2004 – after the ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Kidnapping in Haiti has traditionally been both a criminal enterprise with political objectives,” Schneider said. “And one hopes the arrests reflect a determination to halt that enterprise.”

Lol. Lol. Lol. Ok. I can’t stop laughing out loud. Sometimes this work is just hilarious.

Alright, so you all know the Martelly/Lamothe government is the darling of the Clintons/Obama administration and that Mrs. Clinton is personally vested as well as her husband in their “success” in Haiti. For, uhmm, MORE romantic, ultra glamorous, high profiled-Hollywood-sweatshop openings and tourism in the time of cholera type initiatives. ( Haiti: They don’t have bread? Give ‘em Carnival ; Haiti is open for business on top of our decomposed bodies, crushed bones, intense grief and ground water contaminated by UN-diseased feces.)

By far, the most telling faux pas, in Jacqueline Charles/Miami Herald’s coverage of the Brandt kidnapping, is this:

“At the request of the Haitian government, the FBI HAS BECOME INVOLVED in the kidnapping ring.”(emphasis added)

The messages in this piece are important in varied ways and at many levels.

The lies of the La Scierie Massacre and Operation Bagdad (Bajeux -CEDH) created by Pierre Lesperance of the NCHR/RNDDH and reinforced the Haiti Democracy Project folks in the US, gave the UN forces the pretext between 2004 and 2006 for attacking Site Soley, Gran Ravine, Solino, Belair, Martissant, Cap Haitian and for murdering the innocent poor, living in these areas, who wanted a better economic division of Haiti’s wealth and were presumed to have voted for president Aristide. (See, NCHR and the Media Cannibals). The pressure to kill was so ugly and blatant that at one point,even the UN Brazilian commander refused to do the killings biddings of the Haiti oligarchy and US regime changers. He was found to have committed suicide at his hotel under mysterious circumstances.

Respected Haiti human rights icon, Ronald St. Jean, for one, thoroughly debunked the lies of the coup detat NCHR/RNDDH on their La Scierie massacre. But, if you were following Miami Herald at that time, you would not know that RNDDH was totally discredited for its lies and propaganda about massacres committed by pro-Aristide supporters. Would not have seen any reports showing that when RNDDH was asked to prove its allegation that there had been a massacre in La Scierie, a crime for which Yvon Neptune and many others were falsely accused, it reportedly said that all “the bones including the skulls were eaten by dogs!”

But the evidence of their perfidy lives on. Caused enormous sufferings. Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, RNDDH, Jean Claude Bajeux‘s organizations, Mark Schneider, all of these folks, effectively remained silent about the facts or were outlets for the coup detat spins that lied about Father Gerald Jean Juste, lied about So Ann, lied about the young men and women in Site Soley. (HLLN Tribute to Father Gerald Jean Juste; HLLN Honors Yvon Neptune, July 29, 2006.)

These lies and misinformation absolved the coup detat killers, destabilize Haiti for corporate interests under the guise of exposing corruption.

It’s sickening. We fought too much, too many of our heroes like father Jean Juste were put in jail, others denied political asylum because of fake human rights organizations like RNDDH, because of the mainstream lies that President Aristide was a dictator in charge of death squads, because of the countless articles written in the Miami Herald against the democratically elected government from 2000 to 2004 and the International Crisis Group State Department bulletins. To have Jacqueline Charles cite RNDDH and the International Crisis Group as legitimate human rights sources when they’ve been caught in their lies by the jaw-dropping arrest of one of their coup detat collaborators is simply appalling. Disgusting. These opportunist are the ones maintaining the impunity in Haiti.

I conclude by noting that the US/Euro corporatocracy, ruling Haiti with their local elites and trained men-in-black, ought to recall February 29, 2004 and the bi-centennial coup d’état, our call to the Ancestors, whose ways are serpentine, not linear, and take to heart “kidnappings remind us of slavery, and people can’t handle that.”

La Scierie Massacre/Yvon Neptune -the lies of RNDDH

“Yvon Neptune accused of participating in the “La Scierie Massacre,” an
alleged attack by Lavalas supporters in the La Scierie neighborhood of St.
Marc. Subsequent investigations, including by the United Nations, revealed the
massacre to be a struggle between two armed groups, with casualties on both
sides. The Haitian Appeals Court prosecutor found that there was no credible
evidence of Mr. Neptune’s involvement. Lawyers at the Inter-American
Commission of Human Rights said that the statement of charges “contain[ed] no
indication that Mr. Neptune directly perpetuated the crimes alleged against
him nor is there a clearly defined connection between Mr. Neptune and those
who are alleged to have perpetrated the crimes…The mental and factual
elements necessary to establish Mr. Neptune’s responsibility…remain entirely
unclear.”

In May 2006, the Haitian prosecutor recommended dropping the charges against
Neptune, because there was no credible evidence to support them.

High-profile arrest of member of Haiti’s elite in kidnap ring rocks society

http://bit.ly/106b0fd

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — When Haiti National Police moved in to arrest the
handsome, well-dressed man on kidnapping charges, it blew the lid off a deep,
dark secret: No one is immune to the country’s newest crime wave.

Until now, kidnapping was painted as a deadly trend spawn out of Haiti’s
ghettos, a quick way for thugs to get money off the misery and heartbreak of
desperate family members.

But this was different. This was Clifford Brandt, the 40-year-old, well-heeled
son of a prominent businessman who would eventually confess to his role in the
abduction of the adult son and daughter of a business rival.

For the past few weeks, the “Brandt affair” has been on the tongues of
everyone, from the bourgeoisie to the poor masses in and out of Haiti. It has
become the country’s latest flashpoint, igniting anger and drawing a crowd of
thousands Monday in the coastal village of Jacmel in Southeast Haiti after a
man was killed trying to save his 3-year-old nephew snatched by kidnappers in
the middle of the night from his mother’s bed.

This was the second time in weeks the Jacmel population rose up against
kidnappers.

“Haitians can take a lot of things, even an assassination,” said Reginald
Delva, secretary of state for public security. “But kidnappings remind us of
slavery, and people can’t handle that.”

Still, victims or families rarely discuss their kidnapping publicly, for fear
of being targeted again, or even killed. The crime remains shrouded in
secrecy.

Observers say the high-profile Brandt arrest provides a glimmer of hope that
the struggling Haiti National Police force – after undergoing millions of
dollars in training by the international community – finally may be showing
signs of strengthening. Investigators used cellphone records between Brandt
and other accomplices, including former police officers and an employee of the
victims’ father.

“One would hope this represents a major step forward for the HNP in terms of
its capacity and its ability to enforce the law,” said Mark Schneider, senior
vice president for the International Crisis Group, which has published
numerous reports on Haiti’s security challenges since kidnapping became more
prevalent starting in 2004 – after the ouster of former President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide.

“Kidnapping in Haiti has traditionally been both a criminal enterprise with
political objectives,” Schneider said. “And one hopes the arrests reflect a
determination to halt that enterprise.”

But Brandt’s arrest also illustrates the deep class divisions in this
polarized country, where kidnapping has been regarded as a phenomenon of the
dark-skinned poor – not a crime of the light-skinned elite.

“They are always blaming us for kidnapping, but I’ve always known they were
involved all along,” said Junior Pierre, 28, a moto taxi driver, sitting on a
sidewalk in the Cite Soleil slum. “But in Haiti there is no justice and money
is what talks.”

Investigators said Brandt, who ran his family’s Mazda dealership, had been
under surveillance for months before 22-year-old Nicolas and 23-year-old
Coralie Moscoso were pulled over on Oct. 16 by six armed men impersonating
police officers. It wasn’t until the two were being blindfolded did they
realize they were being kidnapped.

The abductors called banker Robert Moscoso asking for $2.5 million for the
return of his children. Seven days later, with Brandt accompanying them,
police rescued the Moscoso siblings, who were found blindfolded and handcuffed
lying on a filthy mattress in the bathroom of a vacant, two-story mansion.
Police said the kidnappers had been renting the home in Pernier, a Petionville
suburb.

One of Brandt’s lawyers said his arrest was a mistake and his confession had
to do with trying to settle a business score with Robert Moscoso, who also
owns a car dealership.

Police and Haitian officials disagree.

“This is a national network that we have dismantled here, and we have a lot of
people who we are searching for,” said Godson Orelus, the newly appointed head
of the Haiti National Police. “We have cells in other provinces of the country
that we are moving to dismantle.”

So far, 15 people have been arrested, including five police officers. One ex-
cop remains at large. Earlier this month, a high-ranking officer under
investigation in connection to the case was gunned down after dropping his
kids off to school. At the request of the Haitian government, the FBI has
become involved in the kidnapping ring.

In a 30-page police report obtained by The Miami Herald, Brandt confessed to
being the head of a gang, which also dealt in money laundering and illegal
arms trafficking.

A search of his residence turned up arms, ammunitions and $15,000 in Money
Gram receipts sent to someone in the United States.

“Asked about the reasons for the money transfer, the suspect … declared that
the group also was involved in illegal trafficking of arms and guns, and they
financed the buying of these materials,” the report said.

The search turned up what police say was a fake National Palace identification
card, listing Brandt as an “Adviser to the President.” It also turned up
police clothing including ballistic helmets, black combat boots and Haitian
National Police uniforms of pants, jerseys and T-shirts reading “DEA.”

The report revealed the involvement of several current and former Haitian
police officers, one of whom had already been fired after being implicated in
a kidnapping and other criminal activities.

According to the report, police found evidence that Brandt also was working on
a list of future victims. At one point, there was a discussion about “gunning
down” Delva, the secretary of public security, because he had announced the
installation of security cameras around Port-au-Prince to thwart kidnappings.

Haitian officials have said Brandt’s arrest shows they are serious about
ridding Haiti of kidnapping, which has destroyed families, deterred investors
and made Haitians abroad scared to visit their own country.

But Pierre Esperance, head of the National Human Rights Defense Network, still
worries about Haiti’s broken justice system.

He’s concerned about local political interference.

Haiti’s police “have done a very good job in this investigation,” Esperance
said. “But officials have to let justice take its course, and not put pressure
on the justice system.”

Last week, his human rights group blasted Haitian government officials for not
acting on the Moscoso siblings’ kidnapping until they were forced to by the
U.S. government.

Haitian officials dismiss his criticism, saying strong police work lead them
to Brandt.

Authorities said they also are re-interviewing other victims about their
abductions in an effort to tie them to Brandt’s ring.

For many victims, the case has reopened old wounds that make it difficult for
them to speak publicly about their ordeal.

“You always assumed that kidnapping didn’t have a face,” said a businessman who negotiated his kidnapped son’s release after eight day in the summer of 2008. “Now it has a face.”